Change 123: Dream Sequence
by SAmaster01
Summary: Kannami comes up with a new treatment involving Motoko and the HiFuMi, which is very similar to a certain summer blockbuster film.
1. Level 0: Consciousness

Change 123: Dream Sequence

Chapter 1: Level 0: Consciousness

* * *

><p>Me (Teruharu Kousukegawa), and my girlfriend (Motoko Gettou) were having a date on a Wednesday, seeing a movie. The reason this day was different from any other, was because of a call from my friend Kannami.<p>

"So, Motoko, what did you think of the movie?" I asked.

"It was nice. Awfully confusing though. I hate how they made it so you don't know if he ever really woke up or not."

"Yeah. I think though that I'd like to think that the ending was in real life, not a dream.

"How many dreams-within-a-dreams did you think there were?" Motoko asked.

"Six maybe? I bet Fujiko probably understood it."

"Yeah." Motoko said, with a bit of melancholy in her voice.

"Um, so anyway, I guess we should head to the bathroom now." I said. Worst. Save. Ever.

"No, I didn't drink much during the movie." Motoko said.

I was in the middle of trying to think of a different way to move the conversation, when my cell phone rang in my pocket.

"Hello?"

_"Kousukegawa?" _I heard Kannami's voice say. _"Are__ any of the Gettou sisters with you?"_

"Um, yeah, Motoko is with me right now, why do you ask."

_"I think I've found a new way to deal with Motoko's D.I.D."_ He said.

"Does it involve more mercenaries?" I asked dubiously.

_"No, no more of that. I've actually looked into this avenue of research as a means to avoid that kind of solution."_

"I see."

_"I've got what you need at the school, I want you both to come here, and see it." _

"Do we have to see it now?" I asked. "If it's at the school, we can see it tomorrow."

_"Hmm, fair enough." _And with that Kannami hung up.

"What was that Kousukegawa?"

"Oh, Kannami wants us to see something at the school, some sort of new treatment." I said. "But I figured it was rather late."

Anyway, after that, we just chatted mindlessly until we reached Motoko's place. I thought we were leaning in to kiss, but I think Motoko chickened, out, and quickly ran inside.

* * *

><p>For those who don't know, Motoko has a mental problem. She has Dissassociative Identity Disorder, or D.I.D., commonly known as Split Personality Sydrome.<p>

When she was young, Motoko's mother died, and she was adopted by three fathers, each trained in a specific form of fighting. While Motoko assures me that each of her fathers love her, they each decided to train her in their respecitive fields of martial arts, pushing her to her limit time and again, and to cope with the stress, she developed three personalities, who are called the HiFuMi.

The Motoko I know is a shy, glasses wearing bookworm, who is hardly noticed in class. I admit I often failed to notice her myself, but she's a kind person, who's honestly, captured my heart.

However her other personalities are all starkly different.

Hibiki, the first of her personalities, is an aggressive, and brash tomboy, with little in the way of manners, or decency, who used to look for fights constantly. Her father trained her in traditional martial arts, stuff like Karate, and Tai Kwon Do. I've seen her take on local gangs and thugs armed to the teeth, and beat them all without a scratch.

Fujiko is the next personality, she is a calm, and elegant woman, always acting the part of a lady. She can be a bit cold at times, but I think she's just not too sure how to express her feelings. Her father trained her in the use of weapons, everything from knives and swords, to pistols and assault rifles

Mikiri is the last personality, and she acts to all the world an innocent, naive, but enthusiastic child. A child with a magnificant rack that is. She was trained in ways to detain and subdue enemies, she even managed to take out the head of the wrestling team at school.

I accidently found out about Motoko's D.I.D. when a thug cornered her in an alley, I rushed in to help, only to find the thug already unconscious. She told me about the HiFuMi, and begged me not to tell anyone, and I kind, sorta, maybe, blackmailed her into a date.

Anyway, I also brought her to my friend, Kannami, who just so happens to be a certified genius to help her. Two years later, we've made some progress, and Motoko and I have become Boyfriend-Girlfriend, though we haven't kissed or anything, much to my lament.

Motoko's relationship with her other personalities has also gotten better. At first they only appeared when Motoko blacked out, which is a little more often for her than other people. Motoko was actually scared of them, because she would mostly black out when someone was harrassing her, and she would wake up to see them pummeled by the HiFuMi. However, one of Kannami's first treatment methods were for us to have the HiFuMi live out normal lives, simple stuff, like reading a book, going to a park, eating ice-cream. In addition to keeping a shared diary to communicate with the HiFuMi, she's grown close to them, even if she's technically never met them. We all tend to think of them as a family. Also, as a bonus for me, since I'm usually the ones the HiFuMi are hanging out with, I've grown close to Motoko's other personalities, and vice versa, resulting in Motoko kinda becoming a one women harem for me, something that the few people who know her secret have teased us on.

Oh, and there's also an incident like a year ago, that involved Kannami hiring some mercenaries and assassins to beat the crap out of us. It was his way of trying to help with Motoko's problem, and while we've forgiven him for it, we really haven't. It turns out that, however, that Kannami had a theory. Because Motoko didn't get mad, which she never does, there was another personality of Motoko's that got mad for her. And he was, unfortunately, right. This last personality, which we call 'Zero' is as strong as the rest of the HiFuMi, if not stronger, but is nothing but a force of destruction. The Mercenaries managed to bring her out by knocking out all of the HiFuMi, and she almost killed all of them, and broke my arm.

The point of this, is that we've determined that Zero is the biggest threat to Motoko's mental health, which is why I'm willing to give anything a shot if it can help Motoko. But I draw the line at bringing in Mercenaries.

* * *

><p>The day after was uneventful. I asked Kannami what he wanted us to see, but he remained tight-lipped until the end of the day, 'You'll see' was all he would say.<p>

When school finally ended, he brought me and Motoko down to the school's basement, and wouldn't answer any of our questions. Finally, he took a key out of his pocket, and unlocked one of the doors.

"Now, Gentleman and Ladies, you will see what you've been waiting all day for." Kannami said, before opening the door, and revealing the room to us.

"What is it?" I asked. The room looked to be some old chemistry lab maybe, but half the room was dominated by some giant machine.

"It may be the answer to our problem." Kannami said. "Alright, I suppose it is time to end the theatrics. This machine is a prototype. It's designed to peer into someone's dreams."

"Someone's dreams?" I asked.

"Yes, exactly, with this machine, I hope to get a better understanding of Motoko's mind."

"How does it work?" Motoko asked.

"The science would likely bore you. Suffice to say, it accomplishes what it needs to do."

"I thought this kind of stuff was science fiction." I said.

"For the most part it is." Kannami said. "This machine has pioneered several different technologies. However all of them are diffucult to manufacture and produce, and despite what one might think, it has only proven useful as more than a curiosity in a hand full of places."

"And how did you get it?" I asked.

"I called in a few favors." He said mysteriously.

"Um, how is this supposed to help with... my problem?" Motoko asked.

"Well, I was about to get to that." Kannami said. "Now, we've all agreed, 'Zero' is the greatest danger to Motoko's mental health."

Motoko and I nodded slowly.

"I think the last thing we need is a repeat of her last appearance."

Motoko and I nodded, more slowly than last time.

"I was wondering how to approach the situation. In the meantime we've simply have Kousukegawa help you're other personalities experience normal everyday events, but then I happened upon this machine. With it, we could take a close look at your mind, from there, I hope to get a better idea of how to approach the 'Zero' problem."

"So you just want to get an x-ray of Motoko's mind?"

Kannami let loose a small chuckle. "Something like that."

"Well, what do I have to do?"

"Well, we're not going to be doing anything today. The process I feel will take a good while, I'll give you to until tomorrow to get you're stories straight, but tomorrow, you and Kousukegawa will simply sit down in the chairs their, and we'll just attach some wires on your bodies."

"Me and Kousukegawa?" Motoko asked.

"Ah yes, among all the other wonders this machine has, this particular is the only machine in the world that allows someone to enter the dream of another." Kannami said.

"D-does Kousukegawa have to enter my dream?" Motoko asked.

"Oh, is there anything you don't want to have you're boyfriend see?" Kannami teased. Motoko blushed furiously so I had a feeling the answer was yes.

"If you don't feel comfortable with it Motoko, I won't do it." I said.

"Oh, but I really do need you to be a part of this Kousukegawa." Kannami said. "It's one thing to take a look at Motoko's mind, by I also need to see the minds of HiFuMi."

"Couldn't we just go one by one?" Motoko asked. "I go once, then once for each of the HiFuMi?"

"That would be difficult and time consuming. Not to mention I would see each of them as a single case, and not how each of your minds connect to eachother."

"I-In that case, if it's absolutely necessary, I'll do it." Motoko said, blushing slightly.

"Good." Kannami said. "Well, if you have no further questions, I suggest we head home for the day, and prepare for tommorrow."

* * *

><p>After that things proceeded as normal, well as normal as it gets for us. Me and Motoko had our suspicions about this machine, but Kannami assured us that it was perfectly safe, well tested, with only an odd nightmare, here and there.<p>

I simply told my mother that I'd be hanging out over at Kannami's place for friday night, mother didn't seem to care much for me, though my cousin, Ginga, was harder to placate.

Motoko, living alone, didn't really have to tell her fathers anything, but using the diary she uses to communicate with the rest of HiFuMi to make sure they were all on board with the plan. After some deliberation they were, and so we found ourselves on Friday night in the schools basement about to be hooked up to some machine.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong>

Change 123 is a story that I loved. Certainly it was very unique. I mean what's cooler than a shy girl with glasses being able to blink and turn into a ass-kicking machine with a power-rangers loving sidekick/boyfriend.

So, I'm pretty dissapointed at how few stories there are for this. This was an idea I had in my head, but not one I was going to post, but I would keep coming back to this, and adding more to it. I thought about it, and said to myself 'I can do it.' And here we are. Anyway, this will likely be a short story, probably under ten chapters, I'm unsure if it will be finished soon though, as I'm trying to focus on my other stories.

The part in the middle that summarizes the manga is meant mostly to well, summarize the manga, since I'm assuming that since there are so few stories for this category few people have read the manga, and there may be a few people who visit this category for curiosity.

Lastly, the similarities between this story, and the movie, _Inception_ are quite clear, however that movie did not directly inspire this story. I cannot remember if I thought up this story before or after I saw the movie, but I know the similarities are there.

Anyway, if you do read this story, at least do me the simple service of reviewing and telling me you read this story, thank you.

Also, I've already written the second chapter for this.

-Sincerely SAmaster01


	2. Level 1: Motoko

Change 123: Dream Sequence: Ch. 2

Chapter 2: Level 1: Heroism

* * *

><p>"HA HA HA! YOU KAMEN RAIDERS HAVE NO CHANCE OF DEFEATING I! THE EVIL KENNAMI IN MY DESTINY TO CONQUER THE WORLD!" Said the evil overlord from atop his giant mech, as it destroyed the capital city.<p>

"There is no way, it's impossible to defeat him!" Said Raider Black, as she cowered behind a piece of rubble.

"Screw that!" Raider Red yelled.

"Hold on, hope is not lost yet." Raider Blue said, firing her pistol at the city-crushing behemoth.

"Will he be coming?" Raider Yellow asked.

"He has to." Raider Black said.

Then above the sound of the chaos and explosions, the distant sound of a motorcycle engine could be heard. Soon enough the vehicle launched over a ramp of rubble and concrete, and for a brief second, the masked rider with a long scarf could be seen riding it, before he skillfully dismounted, and the motorcycle hit the evil Kennami's robot square in the chest.

"Justice always prevails against evil! Kamen Raider Gold reporting in!" The armored masked man said, before striking a pose in front of an impressive fireworks display.

"It's Raider Gold!" Proclaimed Raider Yellow.

"Quickly! In order to defeat this menace, we must combine our powers!" Kamen Gold said.

And so, Kamen Black, Blue, Red, and Yellow each drew their pistols, and aimed them at Kennami's evil creation, which was still trying to recover. The fired their pistols, with the beams intersecting, and creating a powerful orb of energy. Kamen Gold drew his pistol, and aimed for the energy orb.

"For Justice!" He cried, before firing, and sending the powerful orb at the evil Kennami, who was only able to scream in anguish, as his giant mech was destroyed in a giant explosion.

"We did it!" Raider Yellow said.

"Hell yeah!" Cried Raider Red.

"In the end, as long as you believe, Justice Prevails." Raider Gold said, taking off his helmet to take in the view before him.

"But, for such noble heroism, the hero must be rewarded." Raider Blue said, taking off her helmet.

"S-She's right you know." Raider Black, who was almost missing her helmet, said, tugging on Raider Gold's sleeve.

"Come here hero!" Raider Yellow said.

"And get your reward." Raider Red said, beginning to take off her tight bodysuit.

Just as our hero, Raider Gold, was about to partake in his 'reward', an otherworldly laugh interrupted him.

"_Hah, ha, ha, ha!"_ The voice chuckled. _"I apologize for interrupting your dream Kousekegawa, but it was simply too much. I'm sorry to say, this is exactly the kind of thing I expected, yet I am still surprised."_

"Who, who's that?" Raider Gold asked.

"It is I, the evil Kennami." The voice said. "Do you remember what you were doing earlier?"

"What do you mean?"

"You went into a dream machine. I am sad to inform you that this is simply a dream." The voice said.

"It's- it's what?" Raider Gold said, confused, before a look of clarity dawned on his face. "Oh! Oh." I looked around, and I could see that the Raider versions of Motoko and the Hifumi looked somewhat disappointed.

"_I would let you continue Kousekegawa, but I have a feeling you wouldn't want me intruding on you."_ Kannami said.

"Uh, yeah." I said.

"_Alright, so I guess we should just get down to business then." _Kannami said. _"I'll need you to find a door." _

I looked around. "Hey, Kannami, if this is a dream, then I can do anything I want to, right?"

"_Yeah." _

I took a breath, and did the first thing that came to my mind. I flew. I jumped up, and flew through the ruined city that contained my dream, in and out through the different buildings, high and low.

"_Yes, that's very impressive." _Kannami said. _"I hate to be a kill joy, but shall we get on with our business?" _

"Sorry Kannami."I said, landing firmly on the ground.

"_Okay, I want you to create a door, and I need you to imagine that it'll lead to Motoko's dream." _Kannami instructed.

I looked around the area I was in, and saw a door frame leaning up against the rubble.

"_Good. Give me a second… there, you should be connected to Motoko." _Kannami said.

I took a small breath, grasped the doorknob, and entered the door.

* * *

><p>Level 1: Intimacy<p>

It took a while for me to adjust. I looked around, and found myself in a starkly different place than the city that had been the scene of my 'raider battle'. I was back in the school me and Motoko went to, now in my school uniform than the Raider Gold Armor I had just been wearing. I shivered slightly, as I felt the coolness of the school's a/c on full to the nearby window, I saw it was practically pouring outside.

"_Kousekegawa. I hate to be the bearer of bad news." _

"What is it?"

"_I can't seem to contact Motoko." _He said.

"What? Why not?" I asked, trying to explore the hallway.

"_I don't know. Perhaps due to her unique mental state?" _Kannami suggested. _"We could play it safe and pull the plug right now, and try again, but the problem doesn't seem serious. I suggest finding Motoko, and telling her." _

"Right." I said, getting a suspicious feeling in my stomach. I knew Kannami meant us no harm, but he was the kind of results at all costs person. I searched the hallway I was in, looking for the room number of the class me an Motoko take.

After finding it, I slowly opened the door, and saw all of our classmates on break, sitting at or on their desks, talking and such. Entering the classroom, I could see Motoko sitting at the back, far from any of the other students, looking bored, and somewhat lonely.

"Hey, Motoko!" I called making my way to her. She turned to see me, and the instant she did, a big smile appeared on her face.

"Kousekegawa." She said, as she turned to me.

"Hey, I was looking for you." I said. "You seem a little lonely."

"Well, not anymore." She said.

"Come on, I think we should talk in private."

"Okay." She said, getting up and taking my hand as we left the classroom. It took me a few seconds to notice that the rain had stopped.

"So, now that were together, we need to figure out what to do next." I said.

"_Well, right now I'm taking what is basically a moving CAT scan of her subconscious. The process takes about fifteen minutes, but there is only a little time left. When that is over, we will try to cross you over into the Hifumi's dreamscape, and we will do the same thing. Based on the readings, I will decide what to do from there." _

Unfortunately, I did not here most of that, as Motoko was talking.

"Maybe we could leave the school building here, and have another date." Motoko said.

"Uh, heh, maybe." I said. A literal dream date actually sounded really good, but I was rather uncomfortable with the idea of Kannami watching.

"We could sit at home." She said. "Watch Kamen Raider together."

"Uh yeah." I said. It only then occurred to me that Motoko hadn't actually watched Kamen Raider with me, only some of the movies, and even then, as one of the HiFuMi.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

"No, why do would you think that?" I asked.

"You seem kinda indecisive about our date." She said. "I don't want to be a bother to you."

"Your not a bother at all Motoko!" I said. "It's just that, we kinda have to do stuff later."

"What stuff?"

"_I believe she has yet to realize she is dreaming." _Kannami noted.

"Motoko." I said, clearing my throat, even though I guess it didn't really need to be cleared. "You're in a dream right now." I said plainly.

"Oh." She said. Then a few seconds later, and I could see the realization dawn on her. She looked around the room, and pulled me into a classroom that was conveniently empty.

I was going to ask her something, but my train of thought was completely derailed when she took off her shirt.

"Wha-wha-what are you doing?" I asked.

She ignored me, and grabbed my hand, pressing it against her supple womanflesh. I stammered something unintelligible. She pushed herself against me, and I fell to the floor with her on top.

"What's happening?" I asked, as she leaned in to give me a big kiss.

"_I believe that she's decided to take advantage of being in a lucid dream. Her thoughts however have gone decidedly south from yours." _

Now don't get me wrong. I love my girlfriend, and while she may not always show it, she is sexy as hell. I have nothing against us just grabbing eachother and doing it. However, I would certainly like our first time, real or not, to be alone. My opinion of Kannami dipped severely as I did what I did next.

"Motoko, please stop!" I said, with her ignoring me. "Kannami's watching!" That did stop her, but she simply paused to look around the room as if he were there. "Remember, that we're in the dream machine, trying to get a look at you psyche?"

She paused for a moment. "So… that means… you're the real Kousekegawa, and that the real…."

"Yep." Her blush quickly grew, as she covered her chest.

"Here's your shirt" I said, extremely disappointed in the turn of events.

"Th-thank you." She said quickly putting her shirt on. "Uh, where's Kannami?"

"He's kind of like a voice in my head." I told her.

"I don't hear anything." She said.

"Apparantly there's some kind of glitch in the system." I told her. "I can hear him just fine."

"Should we just stop then, find out what's wrong?" She asked.

"_It is a minor issue, there should be no danger in continuing from here." _Kannami said.

"Kannami would rather we just keep going. He doesn't seem to be worried."

"O-ok then." Motoko said, currently unable to look me in the while.

"_I still need to connect to the next level of Motoko's subconscious. It sees that the Hifumi are indeed having their own dreams as well." _

"Kannami said that we still have to wait a little before we can go to the Hifumi's mind." I told her.

"Okay." She said, still kneeling on the floor and unable to look me in the eye.

"Come on, let's explore your dream." I said, hoping to cheer her up. She got up, and we silently walked through the school, which was eerily quiet. We eventually wandered outside, and while it was no longer raining, it was still overcast.

"Hey, Kousekegawa?" Motoko said. "I'm, you know, sorry for um…"

"Hey, it's okay. It's not that big a deal. I didn't mind. It just took me by surprise is all." I told her. "Hey, since this is a dream, I can fly, look!" I said in an attempt to cheer her up. I jumped in the air expecting to float for a little bit, but I soon landed back on the ground. "Huh. Why didn't that work." I wondered.

"_Since this is Motoko's dream, you are not your own master, she is." _

"Kannami says I can't fly because this isn't my dream." I told her. "It's a shame, I was able to do it earlier, and it was really fun."

I could see Motoko contemplating the idea. "Hey, you should try it!" I said.

"Well, okay." Motoko said. With a look determination she jumped, and she failed to come back down, she was floating.

"That is so cool!" I said.

"AH! I'm scared." Motoko said, flailing her legs, trying to move. She only managed to flip herself around.

"It's okay, I'll catch you!"

"I'm going to fall!" She dropped, and I managed to catch her, but fell myself onto the wet pavement. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She said, with a genuine smile on her face. She got off from me, and helped me back up. We simply continued our aimless walk, passing a public statue of Kamen Raider that I pointed out.

"This is so weird." Motoko said. "Knowing your in a dream."

"Yeah. Like it's really hard to think back. It's like I just don't want to try too hard to remember." I said.

"And then there are all these things that you know are off, but you just don't think too much of it."

"_Alright, the process is complete. Just tell Motoko to imagine a door that leads to the minds of the Hifumi." _Kannami told me.

"Okay Motoko, Kanami said that we can go into the minds of HiFuMi." I told her.

"Okay." She said, taking a deep breath. "I'm ready."

"Alright, you need to imagine a door." She looked ahead of me, and I noticed for the first time that we were actually in Motoko's apartment block, and we were standing infront of her apartment."

"Alright, just imagine that HiFuMi lies behind those doors." I told her.

Steeling her resolve, she grasped the doorknob with one hand, and my hand with her other, and we entered the doorway.

* * *

><p>Level 2: Commune<p>

The place we found ourselves in was empty of anyone. It looked almost exactly like Motoko's Apartment, except that it was much smaller, and almost everything was white. A bright white light came out through the windows on the far wall, helping illuminate the room well. We were in the living room, with a couch against the wall, facing a flatscreen tv, with a low table between them.

"Where are we?" Motoko asked.

"I think we're in your subconscious." I said. "This is the room where HiFuMi live."

"What do you mean."

"Well, they've said that when you're awake, it's basically like them hanging around on the couch, and watching tv, and what's on tv is what you're seeing." I told her.

"This place does seem oddly familiar." Motoko said. "Hey, Kousekegawa, look, there are some pictures here."

I walked over to where Motoko was, and I saw several picture frames on top of a white dresser. There was one of each of Motoko's personalities, including her own. There was a picture of Motoko all three of her fathers, and then there were the HiFuMi with their father, Hibiki with Tatsuya, Fujiko with Jin, and Mikiri with Takezou. And then lastly, there were pictures of me, and Motoko's personalities. A picture of me and Fujiko eating ice-cream, me and Hibiki at the waterpark, me and Mikiri at the park, me and Motoko at school. There were two more pictures, one with me, Ginga, Hino, Kannami, all the people who knew of Motoko's secret, together with Motoko, and a picture that could never actually exist, a picture with Fujiko, Mikiri, Hibiki and Motoko all centered around me.

"There's a hallway here." Motoko noted. I put down the last picture, and followed her, seeing a short hallway, with four doors along a single wall.

"Hey, each of these doors has one of your names on it." I noted, each door had a small sign on it, the first being a white sign that said 'Motoko'.

Motoko carefully looked at the door, and with a bit of hesitation, she opened it, and we entered.

"This is just like my room in real life." Motoko noted. It was, it had the same couple of posters she did, the same alarm clock, the same orange and tan bedsheets. I went to the dresser, and noticed two more picture frames. One of Motoko and her father, and one of Motoko and me. Motoko sat down on the bed and looked around.

"Hey, Kannami, are you still here."

"_Yes I am, I'm just trying to understand where you are right now." _Kannami said. _"I was not expecting this._"

"Do you think I was right about this being the HiFuMi's living room?" I asked.

"_I don't know. It might. It seems that from here you can go to any of the Hifumi's dreams. It is easier than I expected to, to link up with them from here." _

"Alright Motoko, let's get started." I said.

"Okay." Motoko said, getting up from her bed.

We came back into the hallway, and went into the next door that we found, Fujiko's, which had a blue sign over it. Holding onto Motoko's hand, I opened the door, and entered.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Comment:<strong>

In this chapter we Kousekegawa's very Kamen Raider influenced dream, and Motoko's drizzly school dream, and of course the subconscious of Motoko and the HiFuMi. I think that could have been a very interesting place, albeit a hard one to visit.

I hope that in this chapter, the symbolism with the Colors and the HiFuMi were clear. Also again, please review simply telling me you read this story.

-Sincerely SAmaster01


	3. Level 2: Fujiko

Change 123: Dream Sequence: Ch. 2

Chapter 3: Level 2: Espionage

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes, and found myself at a fancy banquet, men in fancy suits, and women in beautiful dresses milling around a grand and well-lit ballroom, with elegant music being played by a string quartet.<p>

"Kousekegawa, where are we?" I turned around and I saw Motoko in a beautiful white dress. She looked absolutely stunning in it, so much so, I couldn't say anything for a few seconds.

"I-I-I think we're in Fujiko's dream right?" I said.

"_Yes, though it seems like it will still take some time for the machine to complete its scanning." _I jumped as I heard Kannami's voice. _"And I can't seem to find, or contact Fujiko either. Try to find her, and keep a low profile."_

"Alright." I said, looking down, and noticing that I was dressed in black suit myself. "Kannami said we should look for Fujiko." I told Motoko.

"O-ok. "Motoko said.

"Are you okay? You seem awfully nervous." I asked her.

"Well… it's just that this will be the first time I've met her." Motoko said. "This is a person who's known me and protected me her entire life, and I've never met her before… I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach."

"I can understand." I said, starting to walk through the ballroom. "You have nothing to worry about though."

"Tell me again Kousekegawa, what's she like?" Motoko asked, following me.

"Very formal." Was the first thing I said. "Elegant, but kinda stiff. She can be cold at times, but she's very caring."

"I see." Motoko said.

I looked around the ballroom once more trying to see if I could find Fujiko through the crowds, but I didn't see her. "Maybe she's outside?" I said. We walked out of the ballroom, and once in the adjacent room, I spied her staring off into the balcony. She was wearing a long slimming blue dress, staring off into the horizon.

"There she is!" I said to Motoko.

She stared at her counterpart silently. "Do you want to talk to her first?" I asked.

Motoko shook her head. "You talk to her first ." She told me.

I nodded, and walked onto the balcony to join Fujiko. I noticed her stiffen as I came close to her. Out on the balcony I could see that the sun had almost completely set, and was practically nighttime, the horizon being little more than a few lines of black and blue, with yellow lights glowing in the distance.

"Um, hello there Fujiko." I said.

Fujiko turned to look at me, and immediately relaxed. She was stunning. No other word for it, with the way the makeup had been done on her face, the way her hair had been done, her slim blue dress, which I could now see had a simple floral pattern, and a slit up the leg, combined with the surprised, but gentle, happy expression of her face made her a vision of beauty.

"Kousekegawa…" She muttered.

"Hey there." I said awkwardly, not sure what to say.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I came looking for you." I told her.

"So you have." Fujiko said with a small smile.

"_Kousekegawa, it occurs to me that Fujiko might not realize she is dreaming either. Could you please refrain from doing so until my scans are complete? I noticed a change earlier when you told Motoko, and I would prefer to get as unbiased results as possible." _Kannami whispered in my ear.

Not knowing what to say, I nodded.

"Hey, um, Fujiko…" She turned to look at me. I wanted, no needed to introduce Motoko to her other parts, but was unsure if doing so would cause Fujiko to realize she was sleeping. I decided to go for broke. "Um, Motoko's here, she wants to see you here."

"She's here as well?" She said, with a similar look of surprise as when she saw me.

"Yeah, one sec." I quickly went over to Motoko.

"Fujiko's right there ready to meet you." I told her. "But Kannami wants us to keep from having her realize this is a dream."

"Really? Why?" She asked.

"He said something odd happened when you found out." I told her.

"_You need only keep up the charade until my scans are complete." _Kannami said.

"He says it shouldn't be for that long anyway."

"Alright."

"Are you sure you still want to meet her?" I asked.

Motoko nodded with determination in her eye. "I doubt I'll ever have a chance like this again. Even if it's a dream, I feel I have to do this."

"Okay, let's go." Together, we stiffly returned to the balcony where Fujiko waited for us.

"Hello there Motoko." She said.

"H-hi." Motoko said shyly, not taking her eyes off her doppelganger.

"I'm surprised to see you and Kousekegawa here." Fujiko said.

"W-well we came looking for you, we uh, wanted to see you." Motoko said.

"While we are all together, why don't we enjoy the night, while we still can." Fujiko said with a smile. Before we knew it, she led us back into the ballroom. Motoko must have been having the most surreal time, even if this was a dream. How many times do you get to meet your own split personality?

Fujiko talked with us, we laughed had fun, we milled around the ballroom. After a while, I got a little tired, and hung out at the buffet as Fujiko talked to Motoko. I could see that Motoko was having a wonderful time. I was happy for her, both of them. I could see both of them, smiling a rare smile for them, a genuine smile I only ever saw if they were truly happy.

After a while longer Fujiko came over to me. "Hey there." I said.

"I must say, it was a rather pleasant surprise to see you two here." She said. "You two were the last people I expected to see here."

"So what are you doing here?" I asked her, actually kind of curious.

"Well… if you dance with me, then I'll tell you." Fujiko said, with a slight mischevious gleam in her eye.

"O-ok." I said, putting down a drink that I didn't remember picking up.

Not knowing how to dance, I let Fujiko do most of the work. She picked up my hands, pushed her body against mine, and we slowly danced to the song played by the band. I don't know how long we danced for, it was another one of those, 'time just flies' moments. When the song the band played ended, we parted, and joined Motoko who was now standing by herself.

"You two were really good out there." Motoko said.

"Thank you." I said.

"Excuse me for a moment." Fujiko said, walking off to talk to someone by the buffet.

"So Motoko how do you feel?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. It feels wonderful talking to Fujiko. It's like she and I have always known each other, she's really easy to talk to. But at the same time it's really odd. Knowing that she's another person that shares my body, and I can't ask any of the questions I want to, because Kannami wants to run an experiment."

"Well that shouldn't last for much longer." I said.

"_I am coming closer to completion." _

"Yeah." Motoko said.

"Hello again." Fujiko said, getting in between us.

"Hello." We both said.

"Motoko, do you mind if I borrow Kousekegawa for a while longer?"

"No of course not."

"Thank you." With that she latched onto my arm, and took me through the hall. "Have you been enjoying yourself Kousekegawa?"

"Yeah, actually." I said. "This is place I rather nice… the food, the music."

"Almost like a dream." She said.

"Y-y-y-yeah." I said, wondering if Fujiko figured out that it really was a dream, she's certainly smart enough to.

She didn't say anything for a while longer as she walked me into a quiet hallway. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise." She said, without looking me in the eye.

After a little while longer, she opened a door that opened to a small room, furbished with some elegant chairs and table. "What are we doing here?" I asked. That's when I heard a click, and saw Fujiko locking the door.

I quickly got paranoid, thinking that Fujiko might be going the way of the Motoko.

"Um, uh, Fujiko, I really don't think that this is the best place to-" I was cut off as she gave me a mind melting kiss, that blew out every other thought in my head. I fell back into a chair, as she begun to clamber onto me. Then she clamped a pair of handfuffs on my hands, and stopped kissing me.

"What just happened?" I asked stupidly.

"I'm sorry my love." Fujiko said, gently caressing my cheek. "That you came so far for me, it makes me so happy… but it is too dangerous for you here. I'm only doing this for your safety." She leaned in to kiss me again. "I promise you my love, we will be together again after this." With that she backed, off, and cocked back the slide to her handgun.

"Where have you been hiding that thing?" I asked. I know I probably should have just told her this was a dream, by my mind was still a little fuzzy after that kiss.

Fujiko simply smirked, as she turned away, and left me locked in the empty room.

"_Well… that wasn't what I was expecting to happen." _

"Kannami, please tell me there's something you can do?" I asked.

"_Eh." _

"Eh? Is that all you can say? I handcuffed to a chair while Fujiko's going to do who know's what!" I yelled, probably to nothing.

"_This is Fujiko's dream. For all intents and purposes she is god here." _

"Then what good are you?"

"_I'm sorry Kousekegawa, but it's not like I can 'hack' into her dream. The subconscious is a very sensitive thing, for me to tamper directly with it-" _

"Quit with the science, and get me out of this thing!" I yelled, thrashing against my bonds.

I heard a rattling at the door, and Motoko burst in with a confused expression. "Kousekegawa, who were you talking to?"

"Motoko, quick get me out of these hand cuffs!" I said, relieved to see my beautiful girlfriend come to the rescue.

"What happened?" She asked, quickly coming to my aid.

"Well, Fujiko led me here, locked me up, pulled out a gun, and left."

"She what?" She turned to look at me.

"Why are you here?" I asked her.

"W-well, after a while, I got a little suspicious about the two of you being alone." She said, going back to the handcuffs.

A chuckled a little at the fact that I wasn't the only one worried about Fujiko's desires. After a few more seconds the handcuffs binding me was released, and I stood up glad to be released.

"Hey um… how did you get those off?" I wondered.

Motoko stopped for a second to think. "How did I get those off?" She wondered.

"_Dream logic." _Kannami answered.

"Come on, let's go." I said, grabbing Motoko's hand.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"First to tell Fujiko that we're dreaming, and then to pummel Kannami." I told her, leading her back through the hallways.

"_Other way, down the stairs." _Kannami told us.

"Other way." I said, doubling back down the hallway. We followed Kannami's directions to Fujiko into the less elegant part of the part of the building. We headed down the staircase seeing a few bullet holes in the wall. We went into the kitchen where there was clear signs of a ruckus, and kept going.

"Fujiko seems to have gotten into a lot of trouble." Motoko noticed.

From there, we went on through more hallways where we could here fighting. "Okay, sounds like she's just through the other side of the door."

"Kousekegawa, I'm kinda scared." Motoko said.

"Don't worry, it's just a dream."

I opened the door, and saw a battle being fought out in a parking complex, with Fujiko taking cover behind a car while several men in black suits shot at her. "Fujiko!" Motoko cried out.

Fujiko turned to see us just as one of the cars blew up. I took Motoko's hand again, and we got into cover with Fujiko.

"My love, Motoko, what are you doing here?" Fujiko asked.

"Looking for you!" Motoko said. "What are you doing, it's dangerous here!"

"I could say the same for you two!" She said, taking a few shots at the men fighting us. "Here take these." She tossed us both a gun, I stumbled with mine, and Motoko held her's as though she was very afraid of it. "I should have known you would be too determined my love." Fujiko said, smiling warmly. "Motoko, do not fear, I will protect you."

"It's a dream!" I yelled.

"A what?" Fujiko said, stopping her fighting to turn to me.

"A dream! Kannami put us in a machine, and your dreaming, so if you could stop all the shooting?"

Fujiko looked confused, and pondered a few moments while the men continued to keep shooting at us. Then her face showed that 'oh' moment of recognition, and the shooting stopped. I peeped over the car to see the men having vanished. I turned to see Fujiko's face red with embarrassment.

"I can't believe that just happened." Fujiko muttered.

"It's alright, people rarely realize their dreaming." Motoko said. Fujiko's head turned to look at Motoko.

"Motoko. I-it's great to finally meet you." Fujiko said. "I am… not sure what to say."

"It's okay." Motoko said. "It's great to finally meet you too. You're an amazing person."

"You really think so?" She asked.

Motoko nodded. "This may not be entirely real, but I can tell you are a caring an elegant person… you're someone I wish I could be."

Fujiko chuckled. "That's ironic. I've spent my life wishing to be more like you."

"Really? How so, why?"

"You were the one that was able to live a normal life. That is all we, I have ever wanted."

Motoko not knowing what to do, simply embraced her other side. I just relaxed, and enjoyed the heartwarming moment before me.

"You two are both amazing people." I told them. The two turned to look at me.

"I apologize for kissing your boyfriend earlier, Motoko." Fujiko said.

"Eh, you two kissed?" Motoko asked.

"Right as she was cuffing me to the chair." I said.

"Oh, well, it's just a dream." Motoko said. "And beside, he's your boyfriend too."

The two both smiled a rare smile.

"_And with that, we're ready to proceed on to Mikiri's dream." _Kannami said.

"Um, Kannami said we can head into Mikiri's dream." I told them.

"I suppose we should try to go through this therapy as fast as possible." Fujiko said.

"I wonder what Mikiri's dream will be like." Motoko wondered.

"Most likely lest face-paced as mine." Fujiko said. "Your largest concern should be for Hibiki."

"Uh-huh."

"_The door to the next dream should be the one you two just came out of." _Kannami said. I turned to see the door we had entered stay shut.

"Okay, Kannami says it's just behind that door." I told them. "Hold hands."

Motoko took a hold of my right hand while Fujiko grabbed onto my left. Together we stepped through the door, and into the next dream.


End file.
